The guy who shares the locker-room with Israel Folau every day, yet has a fingernail of the profile and recognition.

The guy who has toiled and sweated at the club for nine years, through four head coaches, a hundred player arrivals and departures, too many failed campaigns, and far too many selection let-downs.

Jeremy Tilse. The prop who has played just 34 Super Rugby games in eight years in the top squad, only a handful of those in the starting team.

Even when he’s on the front page of the newspaper, he’s invisible, obscured by the flailing limbs of a mate jumping into the water on Australia Day 2011.

He wanders over after training, curious.

“I’m surprised you want to talk to me,” he says.

And yet, there is so much to talk about. The hang gliding, the sailing, the scuba-diving, the surfing, the jet-skiing, the trekking.

The boat Jeremy Tilse helped to restore.Source:Supplied

Tilse’s off-field life is lived like the star of an action adventure reality series.

He even built his own boat, the very one featured on page one of this paper three years ago showing his mates diving into Sydney Harbour.

Among teammates, legend has it the boat used to be a floating brothel in Hong Kong.

“Ha ha, I’m not sure about its past, I can’t really clear that up for you,” Tilse says.

We’ll go with it.

The love boat hadn’t seen action for years when Tilse spotted it moored off Newcastle Harbour with his brothers Jonathan and Garreth.

Three doctors had brought it over from China, but then couldn’t figure out what to do with it.

“We’d seen it there for weeks, it was out of the water and we were wondering what it was doing and went and asked the guy,” says Tilse.

“The guy said he was getting rid of it, he was pretty much giving it away, so we said ‘We’ll take it off your hands’.

“It obviously needed a lot of work, so we fixed it up.

“We craned it into the water and sailed it down to Sydney, and it stayed as a party boat in Sydney for two years.”

Waratahs player Jeremy Tilse doing a spot of sailing.Source:Supplied

The boat hosted birthdays, buck’s parties, and even the Waratahs’ Mad Monday celebrations one year.

Not only did he restore the sinking timber junk boat, but Tilse purchased a book about diesel engines, read it, and learned how to put one together for his vessel.

“It’s all self-taught,” nods Tilse, 28.

“It’s all part of growth; building yourself, growing your personality and growing who you are. That’s what I’m all about.

“If you’re always learning, if you’re always teaching yourself new things, you’re always going to be move up in life.”

What has he learned lately?

“Um … I got my pilot’s licence recently,” he says casually.

Where does he find the time?

“To be honest there is never enough time,” says Tilse, who’ll be on the NSW bench in Saturday’s Super Rugby final against the Crusaders.

“It’s an adventure, getting outdoors.

Waratahs player Jeremy Tilse.Source:Supplied

“Mentally it plays a big part, just getting that balance between study, rugby and those extra activities.

“Building by trade is what I do outside of footy, I’ve been studying that.

“I’ve done my own little developments, a few houses up in Newcastle.”

Whenever a teammate needs help with renovations, Tilse is there in an instant with tools. Someone’s tyre is flat, Tilse is out in the car park changing it. The team’s gym equipment is falling apart, Tilse is there with his drill.

Waratahs’ captain Dave Dennis lauds him with this most emphatic praise: “Rugby is like any professional environment, but because we’re on the road regularly you’re also in close quarters and sometimes you’ll need space from blokes, it’s natural.

“But in eight years, I’ve never once felt like I was sick of Tilsey or didn’t want to be around him.

“He is just a genuinely great bloke. You feel good when you’re around him.”

So as much as the freakish talent of Folau, the astonishing athleticism of Michael Hooper, and the raw power of Jacques Potgieter, you understand that grand final teams also need guys like Tilse.

The guy who turns up with a smile every day. The guy who sits for the longest time on the bench, but yells the loudest from it.

The guy that never puts his head down when the team is read out and he’s missing, again, and again, and again.

“It is disappointing that I haven’t got the run that I wanted to get, but there is no point dropping your head,” Tilse says.

“I’m still only just off the mark. If I keep doing what I’m doing, eventually the hard work will pay off.

“I’m basically training against a Wallaby front row. If you’re competing against the best, you’re going to be a better player.

“Hard work is important, but also self-belief; you’ve got to know where you’re at and you’ve got to keep improving and believing in yourself, that you can do the job and eventually get to that starting spot,” Tilse says.

He may have been missed by most in that relentless pursuit, but to those who matter, Jeremy Tilse is the invaluable Waratah.

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